A Post-Whale-Watching Appreciation of Herman Melville

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Whale sighting! (Photo by me.)

While vacationing in Massachusetts last week, my family and I visited Provincetown on August 1 to go whale-watching. We saw…whales…and I also saw the possibility of writing a blog post about an author who had a strong association with those mighty aquatic mammals.

That author of course is Herman Melville, who sailed the sea quite a bit as a young man before starting to write novels — some semi-autobiographical. He began as basically an adventure writer before getting much deeper with his fiction, even as his prose was rich yet readable from the start.

Oddly, Melville’s 1846 debut novel Typee — a partly fictional chronicle of his time in Polynesia — would be his best-selling work during his lifetime. It was followed by the pretty similar Omoo (1847) before Melville started to write in a more challenging way with Mardi. That 1849 novel had its moments, philosophical and otherwise, but overall was on the boring side.

Then came Redburn (also 1849) and White-Jacket (1850), two very good but not great sea sagas.

A ship in Provincetown. (Photo by me.)

The 1819-born Melville’s creative breakthrough was Moby-Dick (1851), about another epic sea voyage — this time loaded with symbolic/allegorical elements. That, along with the book’s scintillating writing and ultra-memorable characters, made for what is now considered one of the great American novels. But Moby-Dick sold poorly when published and was also unpopular with many critics — only becoming truly famous and appreciated decades after Melville’s 1891 death.

That was around the time of the posthumous 1924 publication of Melville’s final novel, the excellent Billy Budd.

At least Melville’s friend Nathaniel Hawthorne liked Moby-Dick, published a year after Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter — which received a much better contemporary response from readers and critics.

Melville’s bitterness over Moby-Dick‘s unenthusiastic reception was quite obvious in his 1852 novel Pierre, a land-set book (no ocean voyage) whose cast of characters includes…a bitter writer. That and the strong hints of incest in the story resulted in another sales and critical disaster for Melville, whose writing career mostly tanked at that point. Interestingly, many modern-day readers (including myself) find Pierre really compelling and way ahead of its time.

I haven’t read Melville’s novels Israel Potter (1855) or The Confidence Man (1857).

With proceeds from his writing scarce, a very unhappy Melville worked as a customs inspector in New York City from 1866 to 1885, while doing some (not exactly stellar) poetry on the side. In that inspector job, the author was known as a rare honest man in a corrupt institution.

I should also mention Melville’s 17 short stories. “I and My Chimney” is an example of how the writer was very funny when he wanted to be — as is also the case with his inn bedroom scene featuring Ishmael and harpooner Queequeg in the early land-based section of Moby-Dick.

There’s also “Benito Cereno,” a riveting sea tale (of almost novella length) about a slave revolt. Melville was rare among 19th-century authors in portraying characters of color (including the above-mentioned Queequeg) somewhat three-dimensionally.

(Speaking of Moby-Dick characters, first mate Starbuck inspired the name of a certain coffee chain.)

Perhaps Melville’s most memorable short story is the mesmerizing “Bartleby, the Scrivener.” There are few tales like it.

As I’ve mentioned before, nearly 20 years ago I visited the Pittsfield, Mass., house where Melville lived from 1850 to 1863. The window above the desk on which the author finished writing Moby-Dick has a view of a mountain that’s shaped sort of like a whale.

Any thoughts on this post, Herman Melville, and/or his writing?

My comedic 2024 book — the part-factual/part-fictional/not-a-children’s-work Misty the Cat…Unleashed — is described and can be purchased on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. It’s feline-narrated! (And Misty says Amazon reviews are welcome. 🙂 )

This 90-second promo video for my book features a talking cat: 🙂

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece — about an affordable-housing discussion and more — is here.

119 thoughts on “A Post-Whale-Watching Appreciation of Herman Melville”

  1. An interesting read, Dave, wish Melville would have lived long enough to see the true worth of his writing prowess. What a unique & interesting experience @ sharing the ocean with whales (I admire your adventurous spirt).

    The closest I’ve been to whales are photos my daughter took on her honeymoon (An Alaskan Cruise) as they swam alongside the cruise ship. Such magnificent creatures. On a good note, it was great to read that Melville–during his 19-year stint as a customs inspector was honest in his dealings with others. Character matters.

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    • Thank you, Gene! Yes, Herman Melville should have had a lot more well-deserved regard while alive. And much respect to him for being honest, as a customs inspector, in what was then a dishonest profession.

      My whale-watching wasn’t too adventurous; we were on a pretty large boat. 🙂 Whales swimming along your daughter’s cruise ship — nice! 🙂 They ARE amazing creatures.

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  5. Thank you for your synopsis of Melville’s life and work. For me, Moby Dick remains very high on my list of great American novels, and it’s interesting to note that it didn’t achieve its status until after Melville’s death, which makes me think of so many writers and artists who only achieved fame posthumously.

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    • Thank you, Anonymous! Yes, a shame “Moby-Dick” didn’t get the contemporary sales and renown it deserved. It can be hard to figure those things out; there were certainly other “challenging” 19th-century novels that did well at the time.

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  6. Hi Dave, i must admit I have not read Moby Dick. My son, Greg, read it when he was younger. I have never felt overly drawn to that sort of book. I also haven’t ever read Treasure Island or Robinson Crusoe. I have read The Swiss Family Robinson and Coral Island as well as Lord of the Flies. It does seem to me that many great authors only become famous after they die.

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  7. I have vowed to give Melville a third chance with Moby Dick. I had to read it in high school, which meant, like every assignment from that teacher, ultimately parroting her assessment of the novel in our book reports. In an American Literature course in college, I had to read the Norton Critical Edition of Moby Dick, which I thought was the only way you could possible make that book worse. I think I’ve mentioned before, they now read Billy Budd in that course (which brings old man “in my day” comments to my mind.

    I will read Moby Dick again, hopefully for enjoyment.

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    • Thank you, Dan, for the interesting and wry comment! After two tries, it would be generous of you to make a third “Moby-Dick” attempt. 🙂 But, as you note, those first two tries were not under ideal conditions.

      “Billy Budd” is certainly a more accessible novel than “M-D,” yet still pretty deep.

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  8. Hi Dave! I’ve only been whale-watching twice in my life, once off Boston and once off Vancouver Island, and both times were extraordinary and very moving. Despite being in awe of whales, I got halfway through MOBY DICK when I was seventeen, bogged down, and never tried again. I’ve never read a single Melville book. You inspire me to try!

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    • Thank you, Kim! Glad you got to whale-watch twice, at two diverse North American locations. It IS an exciting and moving experience.

      A person can definitely like whale-watching and not be a big fan of Herman Melville’s work. 🙂

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  9. As I tried to contribute some thoughts of mine to your exciting post about whale-watching experience and books in this respect yesterday, I am trying it once more today! First of all I have to admit that the personality or captain in Moby-Dick has never convinced me, because for me it’s really tragic, if we concentrate all our life just on revenge. On the other side I loved Ernest Hemingway’s “The old man and the sea”, because here, Santiago the fisher, despite of being very badly hurt, still call his adversary his brother. I also consider classics as absolut important, as Italo Calvino said, in order to compare other periods of time with our own and to think about the differences.

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    • Thank you, M.B.! Given the busyness of our lives, we all have to pick and choose what we read. 🙂 I find some of Melville’s works to be on the dense side, with other works by him quite readable.

      Great that you did some whale-watching in California!

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  11. Dave – do you believe in coincidence!!!? Well, I just learned today from an e-mail – “what happened today in the past” – that today August 5, 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville meet for the first time — in the company of Oliver Wendell Holmes and publisher James Thomas Fields — on a picnic expedition to Monument Mountain in Massachusetts. You and misty have a brilliant connection to past authors!!!

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  12. Terrific tribute to an interesting writer, Dave.

    Thank you!

    I know of many of his works, but have only read Moby Dick.

    An artist, in any genre of the arts, not making a full living from their work is a classic tale in itself.

    “Whale” of a post Dave! 🤗🐳

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  13. I eventually finished Moby-Dick (I only missed the chapter which listed all the whales). It was pretty good.

    Also a tiny fact about the first mate called Starbuck: yes, there is a coffee chain called that, but I remember a well-known actor called Scully from X-Files, and her nickname was Starbuck too.

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    • Thank you, Chris! Glad you liked “Moby-Dick,” at least to some extent. 🙂

      Interesting bit of “X-Files” trivia! I watched that show occasionally back in the day, but hadn’t remembered the Starbuck nickname for Gillian Anderson’s Scully character.

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      • Don’t forget the earlier science-ish fiction tribute to Starbuck: The name of the hotshot, ladies-man space fighter pilot in the original “Battlestar Galactica.” Later, the dude would be a lady in the “Galactica” remake.

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        • Thank you, Don! I had no idea. 🙂 For whatever reason, I never saw the original 1970s “Battlestar Galactica” series. I guess my spaceship-show watching ebbed between the first “Star Trek” series and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” 🙂

          After a Wikipedia search, I see the character you’re referring to was played by Dirk Benedict, who I remember from the 1980s show “The A-Team.”

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          • Yep,Dave, and the new Starbuck in the Galactica reboot of the 2000s was played by Katee Sackhoff. This time around, “Starbuck” wasn’t the character’s name, but her pilot call sign: Lt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace. Yep, I’m a nerd for knowing that.

            I like to say the original “Galactica,” cheesy as it was by today’s standards, helped me get through an otherwise brain-numbing eighth grade year.

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      • Oh well, sorry about that…

        I watched the ‘X-Files’ right from the start, and continued for years. I suppose that’s why I know it so well. I think I have all the series on DVD. By the way, Scully and her father have the two nicknames: Ahab and Starbuck, and I knew those before I started to read Moby Dick.😉

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  14. Thank you very much Dave for your very interesting post concerning your whale observing holidays together with your family! Maybe I do not so well remember Moby-Dick, but I know that I was disgusted by the captain’s lifelong hatred towards the white whale and his lifelong desire to take revenge. Another book, which I loved and is also about fishing is “The old man and the sea” by Ernest Hemingway. Here Santiago, despite being hurt by the big fish feels that the animal is his brother.

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    • Thank you, Anonymous! You’re right that the revenge-obsessed Captain Ahab is not a likable character. There’s one point in the novel where he shows some vulnerability, but it’s a rare moment.

      “The Old Man and the Sea” is definitely another memorable often-on-the-water book!

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    • Thank you, Marie! It IS a shame when some authors don’t get their due when alive. Sometimes it’s just random bad luck; sometimes their writing is ahead of its time.

      Yes, many whales made an appearance! 🙂

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  16. I loved the book In The Heart Of The Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick re the wreck of the whaling ship Essex which was also the inspiration for Melville’s Moby Dick. Indeed, it was rather heartbreaking the way whales were harvested. Makes me think of what has been done to animals for man’s comfort or needs when eventually technology surpassed the necessity for their deaths and their suffering. In addition, I am not surprised that people dislike reading Melville since his baroque style of writing can be a tedious endeavor. But what’s a sailor got to do during those long sea voyages other than write and write and write once the deck gets swabbed. I’m not saying I’m on team dislike Melville’s lit, rather I’m on team “Geezaloo, I just forgot what I read and now I’ve got to go back a few hundred pages and start over,” Ha. Susi

    “Soon now, the faint tinkling of a broken filament will become another sound of another century.”
    ― Jane Brox, Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light

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    • Thank you, Susi! Great mention of the 2000 nonfiction book “In The Heart Of The Sea.” Reminds me that Edgar Allan Poe’s 1838 novel “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket” was said to have been an influence on the 1851 “Moby-Dick.”

      Excellent, sobering observation that whaling was VERY cruel to the poor whales — yet another example of humankind’s abysmal treatment of many animal species.

      And I very much enjoyed your humorous take on reading Herman Melville’s at-times-challenging prose. 😂

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  19. Your post tells me I really ought to read something by Melville! And your mention of Provincetown reminds me of a favourite book by Henry Beston called The Outermost House, about his experiences while living on Cape Cod. I gather the actual house was destroyed by a hurricane quite recently, however.

    Whale-watching is popular here on the west coast, although sighting an actual whale is something else I have yet to do. I’m not much of a boater, but people sometimes see whales from the big ferry boats between Vancouver Island and the mainland, so maybe there’s hope.

    Posthumous success is something I think about occasionally.

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    • Thank you, Audrey! Cape Cod is definitely a great place to visit! In addition to Provincetown, we stayed in Chatham, visited friends in East Falmouth, played mini-golf in Harwichport, etc.

      The water off Provincetown seems filled with whales, at least during the summer. Hope you eventually spot one or more on the West Coast!

      I hear you about thinking about posthumous success — second in the rankings behind while-alive success. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Rosaliene! As I and other commenters have mentioned, “Moby-Dick” evokes like and dislike. Certainly not a universally lauded novel. I happen to be in the “like” camp. 🙂 And, yes, Melville didn’t get anywhere near enough recognition in his lifetime after his initial popularity.

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  22. Your whale-watching pic reminds me of when we went on a similar trip in Iceland a few years back. I’d like to go to Monterey Bay to see them breaching the water – but as I’ve heard stories of boats capsizing when whales come up underneath or close to them I’ll probably pass! I read ‘Benito Cereno’ at university, and appreciated it for the message. ‘Moby Dick’ I read later, and I need to give it another go. I got bogged-down in all the pages of whale-facts, and then didn’t enjoy the main story. A friend studied it at university and proclaimed herself a competent whaling afterwards. I can relate to him as another writer who isn’t doing as well as they’d like in their lifetime lol, and hope that like him I’ll be famous after my decease. I shall have to read ‘Pierre’ though, it sounds as though I might like that one. Interesting post, thank you, Dave. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Laura! Whale-watching in Iceland — very exciting! (My one visit to that country was a stopover in Reykjavik’s airport.)

      Yes, the whale facts in “Moby-Dick” do bog things down a bit. A strong editor was needed there. 🙂

      “Pierre” deserves to be better known. I stumbled on it at my local library when I was on a Melville reading binge more than a decade ago — and am glad I did.

      Always a shame when great authors don’t reach a high level of fame until after they die. 😦

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        • What a fabulous experience, Dave – to see whales is the most awesome sight. No wonder you thought of Herman Melville. Your post prompted me to consider whether classics will continue to be read by new generations. Without question, reading Melville provides a deep dive into complex themes such as obsession, morality, and the human condition. His intricate narratives challenge readers to contemplate philosophical questions and explore the depths of human nature. But reading has changed considerably over the decades. What I am seeing is that classics are being restructured in gaming and visual applications.

          I believe that the decline in reading classics today can be attributed to various factors such as changing educational curriculums focusing on more modern literature, the perception of classics as outdated or irrelevant, and the rise of technology leading to decreased attention spans and preference for digital media over traditional books. Classics often require more time and effort to understand due to older language styles and cultural references, which can be a deterrent for some readers seeking more immediate gratification.

          BUT, despite these challenges, the value of reading classics lies in their timeless themes, enduring insights into human nature, and cultural significance that can enrich our understanding of the past and present.

          So let’s keep reading classics.

          I have just found an excellent book that is on the top of my reading pile by Italo Calvino, “Why Read the Classics.”

          “All that can be done is for each of us to invent our own ideal library of our classics; and I would say that one half of it would consist of books we have read and that have meant something for us and the other half of books which we intend to read and which we suppose might mean something to us. We should also leave a section of empty spaces for surprises and chance discoveries.” Italo Calvino, Why Read the Classics?

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  23. Well Dave, what an excellent post. You brought Melville to life for us. I am ashamed to say I have only read Billy Bud. I have always taken one look at Moby Dick an thought…nah but you have quite sold it to me, so there you go.

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  25. I am drawn to seafarers’ tales, and Moby Dick was one of my all-time favorites. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” was another, by Coleridge, I believe a contemporary of Melville. But I would have to fact-check myself, because I am constantly jerked around by AI’s methods of channelling infomation in accordance with its own priorities.

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  26. My friend Ted suggested we read Moby Dick and discuss. I could not get into it but he slogged through (his description). I think I am not Melville’s intended audience, and I am ok with that. I find it interesting when i read references to Moby Dick in other works, usually young people who are fascinated by one of the characters.

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